It’s taken a while, but people are finally starting to realize that mental health is just as important as physical health and needs just as much care. We’ve still got a way to go before attitudes – and available treatments – catch up with those for physical health, but it’s amazing to think how quickly things have changed and what that could mean for things getting even better in future.
It was not so long ago that mental health wasn’t talked about with more than a whisper. Those with symptoms that couldn’t be ignored, such as severe psychosis, would be shut away in institutions, while the milder depression and anxiety experienced by so much of the population would just be dismissed.
Things have gotten a lot better since then. We’ve acknowledged that as many as 1 in 4 adults will experience mental health problems in their lives. There’s an effort to practice more community-based treatments, where sufferers even of more severe mental illnesses can continue to be part of their family and wider society. There’s less stigma about medication or going to therapy. It might not always work as it should, but there is a system in place.
With physical health, we know there are certain things we can do to stay in shape. We eat right, we exercise regularly, we try to avoid smoking or too much alcohol and we make sure we get enough sleep. What you might not realize is that a lot of these things are important to mental health as well. Mental health isn’t just about treating mental illness; it’s about maintaining your mind by looking after it every single day.
There are a lot of factors that can contribute to mental illness, and a lot of the time, it’s caused by a combination of biology and environment. You may have genes that make you more susceptible to certain conditions or certain faults in your brain wiring and chemical makeup, but stressful and traumatic life situations can make it a lot more likely that they trigger an outright mental illness.
So how can you keep your brain at its best? You can’t do anything about your genes, and sometimes you’re going to encounter stressors in life that lead to low moods or anxiety. Most of these will probably clear up on their own given time. What you can do is just take care of yourself and be gentle, especially if something traumatic happens.
Try to identify the things that cause you particular distress, and if you can’t avoid them completely, try to balance them with some more pleasant experiences. Talk about your problems, whether with a trusted friend or with a professional. Set boundaries. Look after your physical health, too, as that can affect your mental health.
If you do have an actual, diagnosable mental illness, don’t be ashamed or afraid to ask for help. Even if you have a bad experience with one doctor or therapist, somewhere there’s the expert who will listen and help you work out the treatment plan that’s best for you. If you have medication, make sure you stick to it. The biggest barriers to managing mental health are often the ones we, as individuals and societies, create for ourselves.
